gdp's Comments

Tapity : Jack of all trades, master of some

Thu, 7 Feb 2013 17:34:14 +0000

Yeah, I would say it is the same. Do you have any programming projects? Why not try doing both design and development as a way to practice.

Tapity : Are UI walkthroughs evil?

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 16:58:07 +0000

@Robleh: I agree. I really like the way Paper for iPad does it. They have a video that is clearly optional but does a great way of illustrating the gestures because folks can see it being used in-context.

@Karl: agreed except that I think both are true. Your first iteration should be based on users and then validated by users. On the other hand, in order to innovate we need to build something that users don\\\'t necessarily even know they want or need so we take their feedback but also need the freedom to think creatively.

Tapity : Are UI walkthroughs evil?

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 19:04:46 +0000

Samo: see the update I recently posted. I think these things are worth talking about but not being dogmatic about. I hope my article didn't give the impression that I was against innovation in UI. I wanted to point out the downsides of the walkthrough to teach UI in the hopes that we would innovate not just on the UI but in the way that we teach it. In some cases a great walkthrough is the most straightforward solution but it definitely has drawbacks.

Ben: completely agree. The designer of Rise told me that they tried alternative techniques to teach users to use the app but at the end of the day users did better with a walkthrough. In my usability testing, walkthroughs can have their own frustrations and confusing elements and I tend to discourage them but I agree that we need to continue to experiment and validate and iterate with user feedback.

Tapity : Introducing Languages

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:45:16 +0000

Hey Thiago, I\\\'m really sorry I missed this earlier. My comment system is kind of messed up.

I\\\'m glad the article inspired you!

The nice thing about the App Store is that as someone from Brazil, you have very little disadvantage than people living in the US. I\\\'m not from Silicon Valley so I know this. I do most of my networking online via Twitter, blogging, etc. If you can afford to come to WWDC at some point, you can meet lots of great people there.

Hmm, well I think you are off to the right start. Reading articles like mine and others from the developer community will give you a good idea about what it takes to be successful. Continue to be involved in that conversation on blogs and Twitter because we are learning more every day.

Second, just start. If you think you have the design skills needed, start designing your first project. If you need help with the design or programming, try to find someone else who is passionate about the part you are lacking in. But use that article as a guideline and just practice. If you have the proper idea of what it takes to be successful, you can aim for that as you start building apps and, even if your first app doesn\\\'t pan out, shooting for the ideal will eventually help you win.

Tapity : One year later, Languages has been submitted to Apple

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 20:46:20 +0000

Lisa and Brandon: thanks!! We are super excited. Just one more week!

Tapity : Lessons from a frustrated Apple Maps designer

Tue, 2 Oct 2012 18:10:21 +0000

Cool; yeah, I haven\\\'t had any issues yet.

Tapity : WWDC, Tapity's summer lineup, and a new partnership

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 15:53:30 +0000

Thanks Davey!

Tapity : 2012: the year the interface disappeared

Fri, 9 Mar 2012 17:14:13 +0000

Thanks Jedrzej!

Tapity : Back-to-school Blitz

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:53:38 +0000

As my friend David Barnard pointed out on Twitter, this also teaches us it\\\'s great to be in a category that gets promoted by Apple and the press every single year.

Tapity : 100,000

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:35:20 +0000

Thanks Sergio!

Tapity : Grades 2 - we are go for launch

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:07:58 +0000

Yea, pluralizing is a bit tricky since its not always just adding an s at the end but I\\\'ll see what I can do. Thanks for the input!

Tapity : Launching an App

Sun, 3 Apr 2011 22:15:11 +0000

Hey Ryan, thanks! Let me know when your app comes out so I can check it out!

Tapity : Free Facebook marketing - did I just strike gold? [Update: Answer = maybe not directly]

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 14:38:49 +0000

Swiftfoxsw - good point. Looks like there definitely is a gray area, at least in terms of enforcement.

This morning I\\\'ve also been looking into Appboy\\\'s SDK. Look\\\'s interesting: http://appboy.com/sdk

Tapity : Free Facebook marketing - did I just strike gold? [Update: Answer = maybe not directly]

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 19:48:17 +0000

Thomas: I am actually looking into using the Bump API. That way users just both load up Grades and bump their phones. I check to see which one downloaded the app first (so I know which user is the sharer and which user is the receiver) and then reward the sharer. This could be really cool.

Tapity : Free Facebook marketing - did I just strike gold? [Update: Answer = maybe not directly]

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 18:16:46 +0000

I just updated the post with some new ideas. Great discussion, everybody! Keep it up.

Tapity : Free Facebook marketing - did I just strike gold? [Update: Answer = maybe not directly]

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 17:54:29 +0000

swiftfoxsw: yeah, Twitter would be another route to think about. Especially among my audience, though, Facebook is more or less ubiquitous whereas Twitter is not. Still definitely worth looking into, though.

Tapity : Free Facebook marketing - did I just strike gold? [Update: Answer = maybe not directly]

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 17:49:57 +0000

As Matt points out I think other developers have done similar things and gotten away with it but I would rather not put my relationship with Facebook at risk by violating their TOS. If anybody has any more insights or ideas on this, I would be happy to hear.

Tapity : Free Facebook marketing - did I just strike gold? [Update: Answer = maybe not directly]

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 17:24:06 +0000

I just added a second update to the post: looks like this is, indeed, a violation of the Facebook TOS: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/guides/policy...
I thought I looked into it but, apparently, I didn\\\'t go deep enough. Sorry about that (and thanks Mogden for reporting this).

Tapity : Free Facebook marketing - did I just strike gold? [Update: Answer = maybe not directly]

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 17:03:46 +0000

Mogden: I thought I checked this. Looking at their TOS (http://www.facebook.com/terms.php), there is nothing in there about incentives.

Looking deeper, though, at their Facebook platform policies (http://developers.facebook.com/policy/) I found this...

\\\"IV. Application Integration Points

You must not incentivize users to use (or gate content behind the use of) Facebook social channels, or imply that an incentive is directly tied to the use of our channels.\\\"

There are, apparently, some gray areas. Reading up on it:

http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/02/10/platform...
http://forum.developers.facebook.net/viewtopic.ph...
Will update when I get to the bottom of this.

Tapity : Free Facebook marketing - did I just strike gold? [Update: Answer = maybe not directly]

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 16:13:21 +0000

Oison: thanks.

Doug: good idea. The basic concept is to provide some kind of value in return for a Facebook share. I think there are many cases where this could be applied in some pretty interesting ways.

Alex: I don\\\'t have any really good data on that but I\\\'m pretty sure whatever it is, losing that potential revenue is definitely worth it since we will be pulling in new users. If the new users also share, it just multiplies. If they don\\\'t, we make some revenue - probably more than we would have made from the original user. It also all contributes to the download count which pushes us up the charts.